Startup Communities

There is an interesting idea in Startup Communities by Brad Feld: the secret sauce of Silicon Valley is that it is a community. In the fierce competition, individualism and libertarian philosophy reigning in the high tech circles it is the help that the entrepreneurs receive from each other that is the key ingredient of a successful startup ecology. This would be a good explanation of why it is so difficult to copy the success of Silicon Valley elsewhere (and especially in Poland - I guess), and why the various government programs are often counterproductive - they are good at pumping money into high-tech - but money can kill the community spirit, because it is incompatible with the intrinsic motivation that is crucial for the 'help each other' attitude.